Rider Hosts Business Ethics and White Collar Crime Workshop

Invited speakers included a CEO, a county prosecutor, a criminal defense attorney and a convicted felon.

10/15/2012

Sam Antar, pictured here during a campus visit in 2009, is a former CPA and CFO of Crazy Eddie.

In order to provide students with a greater understanding of ethics and corporate responsibility in business, the College of Business Administration brought in the experts — a CEO, a county prosecutor, a criminal defense attorney and a convicted felon.

About 50 EMBA, MBA and undergraduate students attended the Business Ethics and White Collar Crime Workshop on October 13 in Sweigart Auditorium on the Lawrenceville campus. Dr. Ira Sprotzer and Dr. Susan O’Sullivan-Gavin of the Marketing, Advertising and Legal Studies department organized the workshop. Guest speakers included Ralph Izzo, chair and CEO of Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated; James Scott, assistant Mercer County prosecutor; John Furlong, Criminal Defense Attorney; and Sam Antar, a convicted felon who helped mastermind onetime consumer electronics giant Crazy Eddie’s 20-year run of deceit.

Since joining PSE&G in 1992, Izzo was elected to several executive positions within PSEG’s family of companies, including PSE&G senior vice president – utility operations, PSE&G vice president – appliance service, PSEG vice president - corporate planning, Energis Incorporated senior vice president – finance and information services, and PSE&G vice president - electric ventures. In these capacities he broadened his experience in the areas of general management, strategic planning and finance. Izzo is a well-known leader within the utility industry, as well as the public policy arena. He is frequently asked to testify before Congress and speak to organizations on matters pertaining to national energy policy.

Scott has served as the assistant prosecutor of Mercer County since 2002. Previously, he was an associate at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP.

Furlong is a criminal defense attorney for Furlong and Krasny. His practice areas include criminal defense, white collar crime, and civil rights and first amendment cases.

Antar is a former certified public accountant and chief financial officer of Crazy Eddie, a consumer electronics retailer. The Brooklyn-based chain profited by its practice of “baiting and switching” customers, bringing them into stores for one product before convincing them to purchase higher-margin items. But, at the same time, the retailer was also reaping millions of dollars illegally by skimming money off of its cash sales, money it would never have to report in sales to the government. In the years since the demise of Crazy Eddie, Antar has spend the bulk of his time speaking to various student, corporate and government groups about fraud and white-collar crime from the perspective of a convicted felon.